7 Answers
7

Steam is now released for Ubuntu and there's no need to run Wine or any other thing to get it to work.

Install it with this button:

This offers the easiest method for installing Steam. After clicking the orange button you may not have Ubuntu Software Centre configured to install .apk's. To get Ubuntu Software Centre to show Steam from this link browse to software-centre which is located at /usr/bin/software-centre when prompted after clicking on the orange button.

When installing the "buy" button is not asking for payment to be able to install the Steam for Linux client as it is only indicating you need to buy games in order to use the client for playing games or using apps once the client is installed.

Which means if you have already Steam Play or Linux games in your Steam library there is no cost at all in order to be able to use the Steam for Linux client to play games as it possible to sign in to Linux client with the same account details as with Windows client; just not both at same time.

Also consider upgrading you video drivers as shown in this article step-by-step, doing so will allow you to get the best performance on your graphics card. The article covers the drivers installation for the NVIDIA, AMD/ATI and Intel graphics cards.

Error: steam64: Depends: steam (= 1.0.0.27ubuntu1) but it is not going to be installed.
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WokFeb 16 '13 at 0:13

@wok That error could indicate problems with your system or config - you should probably open a separate question about it (after doing a search).
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thomasrutterFeb 18 '13 at 4:25

Is it possible to update answer with more install options. There are a lot of questions asking how to get steamplay games available to both OS's but only using one library/installation directory. Had started working on a canonical q and a but found this.
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geezanansaAug 7 '13 at 15:56

The easiest way to run Steam on Ubuntu is definitely Crossover Games. CX Games supports a lot of games like Starcraft II, Civilization V, Left4Dead and so on. Furthermore there is professional support you can contact if you run into problems. Try the trial version!

In addition to Marco's great answer, I think it is relevant to argue that the best method to run Steam on Ubuntu might be by running it as a standalone session. Depending on your preferences, it may not be as convenient as running Steam for Linux from a logged on Unity session, but it will probably spare you valuable resources so you can have a smoother gaming experience.

popey and Jorge Castro adress the issue here, but the gist of it is that this standalone session is achievable through a third-party app called steam-login, which can be easily installed running the following in a terminal:

An easy way to install Steam is to use PlayOnLinux. The advantage of using this approach (as opposed to using plain Wine or the native Linux version) is that it allows you to download and install Windows games---which otherwise wouldn't work natively on Linux---that are already linked to your Steam account. PlayOnLinux also allows you to easily customize your "Windows" installation, such as installing required dependencies or tweaking the registry.